Time Limits for Money Recovery in India — The Limitation Rules That Decide Cases

कायदेशीर मुदती

पायरी-पायरीने: काय करावं

1. 1

   Find your Article and your start date

   The schedule assigns each claim its period and trigger.

   तपशील पहा→

   The Limitation Act, 1963 schedule: money lent — 3 years from the loan/due date (Articles 19–21); goods sold/services — 3 years from delivery/due date; a loan with a fixed repayment date — from that date; on-demand loans — generally from the date of the loan (not the demand — a trap that kills stale claims). Written contracts don't extend this; only the resets below do. Interest claims travel with the principal.

2. 2

   The two resets: acknowledgement and part-payment

   Sections 18 and 19 — the debt-reviver provisions.

   तपशील पहा→

   Section 18: a written, signed acknowledgement of liability made before expiry restarts limitation — emails and WhatsApp messages qualify as writings (courts accept them with 65B certificates); "I will clear your dues after March" is enough, an exact figure is not required. Section 19: a part-payment of principal or interest, evidenced in writing/bank records, likewise restarts the clock. Strategy follows: keep the debtor talking on record, bank every rupee received, and never let a due date pass silently — send the dated demand.

3. 3

   Special clocks that differ from 3 years

   Cheques, MSME route, decrees, government claims.

   तपशील पहा→

   Different regimes, different clocks: cheque bounce — present within validity (3 months), notice within 30 days of return memo, complaint within 30 days after the 15-day pay window (full guide); MSME Samadhaan references are best filed while the underlying 3-year contract claim is alive; executing a decree — 12 years; appeals — 30–90 days by forum. Consumer complaints: 2 years. Missing a short clock can leave the longer civil route still open — check before giving up.

   आम्ही हे तुमच्यासाठी करतो — ₹299 →
4. 4

   Expired limitation: what remains

   Condonation is narrow for suits — but the debt isn't erased.

   तपशील पहा→

   Courts cannot condone delay in filing suits (Section 5 applies to appeals/applications, not suits) — a time-barred suit fails even if the debtor admits owing. What remains: a fresh written acknowledgement revives the claim (Section 18 works only pre-expiry, but a time-barred debt acknowledged as a fresh promise under Section 25(3), Contract Act — a signed written promise to pay a time-barred debt — is enforceable as a new contract); set-off defences; and moral/settlement pressure via Lok Adalat. If your dates are borderline, file first and argue later — the plaint's filing date is what counts.

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